


Ride Across the River

by InkSplatterM



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Alternate Universe, Archive warnings contain spoilers, Arvis and Sigurd role swap, But obvious spoilers are obvious becuase of the source, Chalphy!Arvis, F/M, Mentioned past pairings, Multi, Multiple Background Pairings, Velthomer!Sigurd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-03-29 15:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13930140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkSplatterM/pseuds/InkSplatterM
Summary: When the Lady Aideen of Jungby is taken from her home, Arvis and his knights of Chalphy follow to come to her rescue. Little do they know that this is but the start to a bigger plot that they will all be tangled in.---“What are you planning now?”“Many things.” Arvis said, casting a sideways glance in Eldigan’s direction with a smile. “First being how to extract Lady Aideen from her current situation. There are more pawns in play than I anticipated.”“And a different front may open as well. There are many lords in Augustria who look suspiciously on your advance here.”“I need not worry about them. All aside from you are degenerate boors with no more wit than an obstinate mule.”





	1. Glorious Summer

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the Palette Swap AU! The original idea for this AU is from [THIS](http://vampirozi.tumblr.com/post/170015596210/sigurd-knight-of-flame-arvis-holy-emperor) edit by Tumblr user Vampirozi using the Fire Emblem: Heroes art for Sigurd and Arvis. Things just snowballed from there. Hope you enjoy!

_Made glorious summer by this sun of York_

\- _Richard III_ , William Shakespeare

Had Arvis known on leaving Chalphy he would come under the scrutiny of the young Captain of the royal guard, he would have gone about his operations quieter. Or, at the very least, had found an excuse that wasn’t a dramatic rescue, but one worked with what one had.

It was evening. Having recovered Jungby Castle to find a nearly dead Midir and Lady Aideen absent was not the best of outcomes he had hoped for, but it was a damn sight better than what could have happened. The only blood that tainted the castle walls and floor were from the skeleton crew of guards and Midir himself. That none were dead was a boon.

But his extremely unexpected visitor might not see it that way. “Lord Sigurd, this is a surprise.”

Duke Sigurd of Velthomer’s red eyes narrowed. “Sir Arvis.” The candlelight brought a golden shine to his red hair. “I’m surprised that His Majesty’s intelligence was correct about you.”

Anger burned briefly in Arivs’ chest, an ember that flared before deciding that it was unimportant. He tapped the butt end of his pen against the wooden desk he had commandeered. This was just one more thing that was going wrong, like how what had began as a one man ventured had quite suddenly morphed into a group endeavor.

“What exactly did you expect me to do?” Arvis said, forcing himself to appear relaxed as he pushed his blue hair off his shoulder. “Not come to the aid of my family’s closest ally?”

Evidently, Sigurd did expect Arvis to leave Jungby to flounder in its crisis. He had no answer for Arvis instead placing a leather bound tome on the desk. “Here.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a spell book.”

Arvis gifted Sigurd with an expression he mostly used on Oifey when he was acting particularly slow. “I can see that. Why are you giving it to me, my lord?”

“His Majesty requested that you be given this to help with this campaign against Verdane. You also have full authority to deal with the barbarians as you wish.”

Turning the book over in his hands, Arvis could not help the slight gasp that left him.  “This is Bolganone!” Not so unparalleled a spell as the Valflame, the Möjlnir, or the Holsety, but powerful nonetheless. Arvis, being the scion of a house that favored blades - such as their own Holy Weapon the Tyrfing – had not held hope of getting his hands on much over an Elflame tome, even with the strings that he could pull.

“I don’t see why you’re being given this.” Sigurd said as he leaned on the desk, jostling it and sending Arvis’ pen rolling to the floor. Arvis didn’t give Sigurd the satisfaction of seeing him bend down to retrieve it. “After all, my brother is here lending his power over the Valflame.”

Arvis felt like ice had been summoned into his spine. Carefully, oh so carefully, he placed Bolganone on his desk, carefully out of the way. “I did not ask him to be here, my lord.”

“You didn’t send him away, either.”

Arvis felt Sigurd’s stare on the side of his head like it was a knife.

“Keep him safe, Sir Arvis,” Sigurd continued when it was obvious that Arvis was not going to respond to him. “It is the least you can do.”

“Give His Majesty my gratitude. Good night.”

Sigurd stood for a moment in silence. Once he realized that Arvis was not going to get up to show him out, he made his own way to the door. He gripped the handle on the door. “Oh, Your son recently celebrated his eighth birthday, by the way.”

“Good night, my lord.”

“It’s a shame that you missed it.”

“Good. Night. My lord.”

******

Oifey and Arvis spent the dawn hours of the morning finalizing a battle plan. The boy put together the initial confrontation idea, while Arvis would poke at it and quietly account for when things would, inevitably, go wrong.

When the rest of the motley assortment woke and gathered to leave Arvis grabbed Azel’s arm.

“With me.” Arvis said, pulling him aside. He stopped in an alcove hidden away from most of their compatriots. “Why did you lie to me?”

“What? I didn’t-“

“You did. You said that your brother knew that you were here.”

Azel looked down, his fingers rubbing along the spine of Valflame. “I left him a note.”

“A note.”

Azel shrunk in on himself. There was some steel left in his spine that kept him staring Arvis in the face defiantly.

Arvis clenched his fist before peaking in a low tone. “He rode out here last night to blame me for you being here, for not sending you back to Velthomer. I should have.”

“I’m past my majority, long past. I can go where I wish without alerting him.”

“You are the last known major heir of Fjala. By all rights I should have sent you away.” Plumes of flame emerged from Arvis hands, but quickly went out. Azel answered the show of power with one of his own, less controlled. The sudden sparks of light and heat attracted looks, but only one person decided to venture closer. “What if you had died? Do you want Duke Sigurd to engage in incest with one of your numerous half siblings to make sure that your line continues?”

“Hey, that’s not fair.” Lex stepped between Arvis and Azel, heedless of the flames that Azel hastily pulled out so that he wouldn’t be burned.

“This has nothing to do with you, Lex of Dozel.”

“It has everything to do with me when you’d lose me as well as  him. He’s the only reason I’m here.”

“Then maybe you should.”

Ethlyn, on the other side of the yard watched the fight with a frown. Before she could move forward a pair of arms circled her waist and pulled her close.

Quan pressed a kiss against her hair and knelt a little so he could comfortably tuck his chin against her shoulder. “Remind me why we are here again?”

“Because you support my wish to help my brother despite not being of Chalphy anymore.”

“Ahhh, yes, I remember now. You bribed me.”

“Having Finn along is hardly a bribe, dearest husband.” Ethlyn turned in his arms to look him in the face, smiling between placing kisses to the edge of his jawline. “You have been remarkably civilized the last few days though. A reward is in order, I should think.”

The grin that Quan gave back to her was full of promise. His hands drifted lower, curving over her rear and playing with the hem of her skirt. The soft fabric rolled easily between his fingers before Ethlyn swatted them away.

With Ethlyn’s back to the fight, Quan watched how Arvis and Lex stared each other down until Azel dragged his friend away. Arvis pinched the bridge of his nose before standing tall and going back the way he came as if nothing at all had happened. But one could tell that Arvis was holding something in by the set of his shoulders as he walked.

“I’m being good for more than earning rewards, you know.” Ethlyn gave Quan a large eyed look, usually reserved for when she didn’t believe what he was saying but was going to let him dig the hole anyway. He tapped her nose. “I’m serious. Arvis deserves me being civil. I couldn’t tell you how many times that he pulled my ass out of one fire or another when we were at the academy.”

“Twenty four times.”

“What?”

“Plus five other times that he doesn’t count because bailing you out was part of the original plan.”

Quan pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know this how?”

“Arvis told me when he decided to let you marry me.”

“You mean when he agreed to my proposal to marry you.”

“Oh please,” Ethlyn twirled out of their half-broken embrace to go collect her equipment for the upcoming attack. “He decided long before you proposed, but he wanted you to work for it.” What she didn’t say was that Arvis also managed to arrange it to make Quan think that it was his own idea. There were times where Ethlyn believed that the men in her life deserved to be smacked with a staff, and remembering when Arvis told her his marriage plans for her was one of them. At the end of the day though, Ethlyn would never regret marrying Quan. She fell in love with him quickly and irrevocably, and their daughter was a treasure she would never give up.

******

The taking of Evans castle went smoother than Arvis anticipated. He’d only had to use half of the back up plans he came up with to compensate for when Oifey’s had a lack, and even then, it was the minor back ups. There may very well be a decent tactician, he just needed to shore up his strategy.

Arvis put a hand on Midir’s arm to prevent him from stabbing an arrow through the bandit’s eye.  Now was not the time for vengeance, and Arvis was not going to have the patience for an over-zealous knight. He knelt in front of the bandit, palming a globe of fire.

“Alright, good sir.”

“I ain’t-“

Arvis flared the fire in his hand. “Shut up. I’m going to use simple words. Your boss? Will kill you. I want you alive a little longer. You ask yourself do you want to leave your life to chance or make it a certainty. Now, tell me where Lady Aideen of Jungby is.”

“The broad ain’t here. Boss took her deeper in- ahh no no!”

Arvis brought the fire closer to the bandit’s face, the heat licking at his skin. “You know more than you’re saying, good sir.”

“Genoa or Marpha. Genoa or Marpha! I don’t know which I swear!”

“Good man.”

Arvis looked back at the knights who had assembled around him during the quick interrogation. Alec didn’t look like he cared, but there was a certain hardness around his eyes that was matched in Noish’s stony expression. Arden, tall and brawny, was grinning in an expression that more closely resembled bearing his teeth than an actual display of pleasure. Midir through looked like he wanted ARvis to burn the bandit’s face off, and that just for starters.

If it had not been for the fact that their group was in desperate need of archers, Arvis would have left him back in Jungby. The needy could not be choosy, however. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that there were a few servants that were peeking from their hidign places, faces bright with terror. There was no knowing if they were afraid becuase that was the default of living in this castle, or because they feared Arvis’ magic would be directed at them next.

He sighed and turned away from his knights and the coward pissing himself on the floor. “Arden, throw him out. I don’t care where or how gently. Noish, Alec, with me.”

With his two knights, Arvis walked the halls of Evans Castle, lookign for any hidden malcontents that they might have missed on their initial takign of it. Once they were sufficiently away from any of their allies, Arvis stopped.

“You both disapprove of my handling of the prisoner.”

Alex jumped, startled by the statement, But Noish answered. “We are your knights, does it matter if we disapprove?”

“Yes, actually.” Arvis crossed his arms. “I don’t want simpering yes-men who will agree to my every whim. If you are to continue following me, I expect - no demand - that you speak up if anything happens that goes against your morals. If you can’t do that, then leave.”

The knights looked at each other a moment. Noish nodded once. “Agreed. We did disapprove, but we also understand why.”

“Yeah,” Alec stretched his arms up and crossed them behind his head. “Considering that Midir wanted to do worse. That you stopped him outweighs you threatening to burn the guy.”

Arvis gave them a considering look before moving on.

He arranged for all the castle’s staff to be interviewed over the next few days, hoping to get more out of them than what the bandit had given him. It lead to word beign spread that he had taken Evans castle attracting the attention of those in Bellhara as well as in Augustria.

The Bellharan messenger was ignored, for the most part. Arvis took his missive that he was named a “Holy Knight” of the empire with a grain of salt. He had better things to do than be self-congratulatory. The Augustrian messenger was no messenger at all, but Lord Eldigan of Nordian.

Lord Eldigan had known Arvis since they were boys attending the academy together, and the sudden wish to take castles alarmed him. Arvis normally made subtler moves. He arrived at night, the servants letting him through the gates with wide eyes.

The meek-faced butler let Eldigan into the sitting room, bowing and scraping at length at Arvis’ thanks and request for wine and two glasses being brought to them. Arvis rubbed his face after the door closed.

“Overwhelmed?” Eldigan said.

“Only by their fear.” Arvis took a seat in front of the fireplace and gestured to the chair opposite him in invitation.

Eldigan took it, his legs crossing at the ankles as he let himself relax. He stared at Arvis, whose concentration was wholly on the light of the fire. Arvis was not relaxed. He sat hunched over in thought, his chin balanced on his fist and his elbow pressing down into his knee.

“What are you planning now?”

“Many things.” Arvis said, casting a sideways glance in Eldigan’s direction with a smile. “First being how to extract Lady Aideen from her current situation. There are more pawns in play than I anticipated.”

“And a different front may open as well. There are many lords in Augustria who look suspiciously on your advance here.”

“I need not worry about them. All aside from you are degenerate boors with no more wit than an obstinate mule.”

“One rock can’t hold back the tide.” Eldigan sat up straighter in his seat, mouth curling into a frown. “I would ask a boon of you.”

“It is yours.”

Eldigan laughed. “You don’t even know what it is.”

“The fact that it is you asking allows me to know it won’t be a strain on my means or my conscious. Again, any boon you ask of me is yours.”

“I would have you protect my sister. There may come a time when I can’t and I don’t want the worst to happen to her or to the people of Nordion.”

“Oh… well, now there has to be a price.” Arvis’ smile turned to a smirk. “I will be having to tell your sister all your secrets.”

“I would pay you not to.”

“Come now, she has to learn that you’re as earth-bound as the rest of us before your sainted virtues get you killed. What was it that you used to say? ‘Mistletoe wants blood’?”

“-Tainn. My family’s sword is the Mystletainn.”

Eldigan would have gotten up, but that was when the butler returned, skittering into the room with the asked for wine and glasses, before bowing and just about sprinting back out the door on his knees.

Arvis did not go for the wine. Instead he finally sat back a little in his chair, using the armrests for their intended purpose. His concentration had gone back to the fireplace and the ever-turning machinations in his mind.

That would not do, leaving a good bottle of wine to just sit there and be ignored. Eldigan did stand, pouring one glass. The color was a heavy red, almost like blood. The song of Mystletainn, as if summoned by their recent conversation and the simile, wrapped its way around his thoughts. How shocking would it be if he ever did act on that song. His sword’s moniker was no mere play of words.

Eldigan sat at Arvis’ feet, leaning his head against one of his knees and taking a deep drink from the glass.

“Eldigan…” Arvis plucked the glass from his fingers, taking a drink himself before setting it aside. His hand ran through Eldigan’s hair, weaving the bright yellow strands between his fingers. “You have a wife.”

“And back then you had Aida.”

“Did I?” The tug on Elidgan’s hair was sudden and vicious. Heat flooded through him nonetheless as the sword song faded under his rasping single breath. As quickly as it happened, Arvis’ hand turned gentle again, going back to it’s absent petting. “We were but boys, then, and she was a realization, not a romance.”

“Ah… So we shall not wine and dine like old times.”

“I am afraid so, my friend. There will be wine, and nothing more.” Arvis leaned over to pour more wine in their shared glass. He drank from it and passed it down for Eldigan to partake. Stroking Elidgan’s hair turned into massaging his scalp with his fingertips. Eldigan made strangled gasps when the pressure turned sharp from Arvis’ nails. The heat from the fire was distant in his senses. Everything was distant from his senses bar the solid stone floor under him, and the spots of touch on his head from Arvis’ hand and knee. 

Slowly, the song in his head faded down to where he could lock it away. A tremor ran through his body. 

“Up you go.” Arvis said, pressing his hand against the back of Eldigan’s neck. “Your family will miss you if you’re away too long.” 

Eldigan stumbled on getting to his feet, feeling returning to his legs in bright needle pricks. “Be careful. And thank you.”

“I’m always careful.”


	2. Dark and Bright

_All that’s best of dark and bright_

_meet in her aspect and her eyes._

\- “She walks in beauty”, George Gordon, Lord Byron

Taking Genoa Castle was an exercise in stealth and creativity to conquer a numbers game. Genoa was a strong hold manned near to the teeth and was securely in Verdan territory. Arvis’ group – they certainly weren’t an army – numbered at ten able fighters and a child just on the cusp of adulthood. When they took Evans, it was a success partially because the master of that castle only had a minimal amount of guards, while Arvis had a bow knight with a vengeance to fulfill and a love-sick pup of a mage augmenting a handful of knights and in-laws. Here, they tried to make their small numbers work for them.

Quan and Ethlyn lead the other mounted fighters to make a distraction outside the castle while Arvis, Azel, and Arden snuck inside. The only thing that was off any of Arvis’ plans was that Kinbois was heading toward the castle’s dungeon. Obviously, it meant that they went down to check it out. 

In the dungeon was a young boy. Azel knelt on one knee. “Hi, it’s okay, you’re safe now. What’s your name?”

“I’m… I’m Shannan. Have you… Did you take the castle?” Shannan stayed in the back of his cell, rightly, perhaps. 

“Yes, we have.”

Azel’s assent caused Shannan to smile. “Then Arya-“ Before he could finish, Arvis stepped in and scooped him up, carrying him over his shoulder as Arvis ran out of the castle. Azel and Arden looked at each other a moment, shrugged, and rushed to follow him outside.

Shannan struggled the whole way, but stopped the moment that they hit sunlight and the sound of clashing weapons. 

“Hold!” Arvis bellowed. There was a knot of fighters. Alec and Noish were using their lances to hold off the last warrior, a woman in a purple tunic, who had cleared a circle around herself. Noish had been about to stab when Arvis called out. 

“Arya!” Shannan’s sudden, high-pitched voice cut across the cacophony or battle. Arvis set Shannan down before he could fall, and he ran to her. 

Avris walked to his knights. “May introduce Shannan and Arya, prince and princess of Issac.”

******

Once they had ousted the last of the enemy fighters – calling them soldiers would have dishonored actual soldiers – from Genoa castle, Oifey tried to find an out of the way place where he could think. Everything had seemed to happen so fast. One moment he was sitting in Chalphy castle practicing his swordplay and tactics in theoretical settings, the next he was planning the tactics for taking castles with only a small group with limited means. Even more astounding was that his tactics actually worked, and his cousin, a genius tactician in his own right, was depending on him and giving him more leeway with their battle plans.

But there were still things that troubled him.

The first was that for all that Arvis was steadily increasing his duties, Oifey couldn’t help but feel that his cousin didn’t trust him. He rubbed at the brand of Baldur on the back of his hand. Oifey knew that Arvis had tactical plans behind his back. He hadn't followed the entire initial battle plan. “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy,” Arvis had said, with an infuriating smile. 

The second was how Arvis never spoke all that was on his mind. Not that he expected to be Arvis’ confidant, but Oifey felt that he deserved to know some of what the overall plan was. The latest example – offering succor to Prince Shannan and Princess Arya – set Oifey’s teeth on edge. 

It wasn’t the inherent compassion of the offer. Out of their country’s current contexts it would be something that Oifey would wholeheartedly support. Unfortunately, the current context of Granvale and Isaac was that they were at war. Offering succor to the heirs of Issac was treason; compassionate treason, but treason nonetheless. Oifey patted his sleeve and the letter he had penned that was hiding up it. 

When he had asked Arvis about his decision, Arvis had smiled. It was one of those expressions that left Oifey chilled for hours afterwards, even if he was standing near a roaring fire. 

“Granvale may be at war with Issac, but I am not.” He had said, then patted Oifey on the head and turned him back to his studies. Infuriation, thy name was Arvis of Chalphy. The comment had inspired the letter now hiding in Oifey’s sleeve and a few more other thoughts beside. Having the words go through his head again clinched something. Arvis’ relation to Granvale was his own. Oifey had a different relationship. 

He left the alcove and found a servant that was willing to take the letter to Bellhara for a couple gold pieces. Arvis always did value people that followed their own conscious. 

Arya watched the young man get his letter sent off, her arms crossed over her chest. “Are you going to stand there all evening?”

Her question startled the patch of shadows behind her. Noish walked out from them, his stiff bearing belying his embarrassment. 

“No, my lady.”

“Don’t. I am a bound sword same as you.”

Noish snorted. “Hardly. Separate countries, different backgrounds. There are many differences between us.”

“Is one of those differences how we treat a sworn word? I keep mine. Does Arvis keep his?”

There was a moment where Noish was going to protest in Arvis’ defense, but he stopped and pressed his hand against his face. It was instinct to say that Arvis would always keep his word, an instant sort of loyalty. But that would not have been the truth. With Arya there, looking at him with deep purple eyes that pierced him down to his soul, he couldn’t just leave things at the first words out of his mouth. 

“He does,” He settled on finally. “Once you are able to get him to give his word, he will spare nothing to keep it. The trouble is knowing when he has given his word, and how much you have decided to lean on the spirit of his words rather than the letter of them.”

“So he’s as much a liar as Kinbois.”

“No, no, Lord Arvis is very honest. But he knows how to use promises to his advantage.He is a good man underneath the manipulation.”

“I can’t trust that.”

“Can you trust me?”

The look Arya gave Noish would have frozen the Yeid Desert. 

“Bear with me. I know it is much to ask considering not long ago I had a spear at your throat. But I give you my word that Lord Arvis will treat you with all the dignity and respect that you deserve.”

“With hopes that I may believe honorable knights would serve an honorable lord? The world is not so coincidental as that.”

“I have nothing else to prove ourselves with.”

Arya looked him over. He had a straight and proud bearing, but balanced for fighting and quick reaction. All that she had known of people told her that he was being honest. But all that she had known of people had been tested and sometimes proven wrong in her and Shannan’s flight from Issac.

“It will have to do, I suppose. Until we can find another way,” She said, and would have spoken more except two figures stumbled out of the surrounding forest. “What?”

“Please… Please! He’s hurt! I need a staff!” The taller of the figures said. She walked gracefully, for all that her dress was torn and dirty, and she was helping to hold up a boy. 

“Lady Aideen!”

******

The story Lady Aideen told of her escape from Marpha was almost too good to be believed. Bandits, a child thief, a prince working against his brother, it was all too good to be true. But it was true and Arvis had to take into account the new information. 

“You’re going to Marpha?” Aideen hadn’t left the child – she said his name was Dew – since they had come to the castle. First it was because she insisted on healing him herself, then because he hadn’t yet woken up. 

“Yes.” Arvis said. He sat across the sick bed. Dew lay between them, his breathing even and deep. 

“Why? Azel of Velthomer says that you were here to rescue me. Here I am, rescued. There’s no need to continue farther into Verdane.”

“I have my reasons, my friend.”

“You always say that.” Aideen stood, running both her hands down the front of her dress. “Between you and Ethlyn I don’t know how I’ve lived without being entangled in one of your plots.”

“Perhaps you haven’t.” Arvis forced his face to remain in a teasing grin when Aideen’s gaze pierced him. “I jest.”

“You better be.”

“Have few worries, Aideen. First we go to find information. The people of Marpha will be as safe as I can keep them.” He stood, sketching a quiet bow to Aideen, and left, dodging around Lex who was entering via the same door.

******

Marpha was a rather typical castle town. There were a couple shops, a blacksmith, even a small fighting arena where the locals - and the fighters - could place bets on the winner. Arivs pulled his hood down further over his hair. The distinctive blue shade, something that he normally took a vain pride in, was a liability. Alec’s green hair wasn’t so strange, Silessian heritage cropped up everywhere once in a while, and Noish had a way of blending into the background when he needed to as an unobtrusive observer. 

That Arvis had to depend on them was not the issue. They were his knights, of course he depended on them. But he hated standing in the corner as if he was being put onto a shelf and kept away. They could be getting even more information if he could ask his own questions and make his own observations. Alec and Noish were smart gentlemen, but there was a chance that they wouldn’t know what facts would be important to him. Sometimes the most minor thing was the exact thing that brought a man down or lifted him up. 

“Hey there girlie, that’s a thick staff yer handling. Heh.”

Arvis watched while a street thug, face marred with scars and dirt cornered a young woman. Like Arvis, she wore a cloak with a large hood that she pulled tighter over her head. No one around him was paying much attention to the confrontation. Well, it seemed simple enough. The young lady was traveling alone, somewhat incognito given she was in trousers as well. Just needed to distract and extract. It was a plan that he’d done plenty of times in plenty of situations. 

Whispering an incantation under his breath, Arvis stepped behind the woman. He snapped his fingers. A ring of fire surrounded her. The ruffian took a step back, eyebrows climbing into his hairline as he fought to breathe in and shout at the same time. 

The woman spun around, bringing her staff to bear, smacking Arvis in the face as she screamed, “Silence!”

The fire went out. Arvis tried to speak, to explain around the throbbing of his cheek, but absolutely no sound came from his mouth.

“What’s taking so long? You can’t still be pissing.” 

Oh delightful. the ruffian had friends. And he was now in a state where even his Thunder Sword was useless to him. 

“Get the girl! and the mage!” 

Arvis grabbed the woman’s wristand took off, pulling her along behind him. He had little idea of where he was going to go, but ‘away from here’ seemed a good start. Never before had a plan gone so thoroughly off the rails. He was caught flat-footed and it wasn’t the most spectacular of sensations. 

The woman got the intent of their run quickly enough. She overtook Arvisand was leading him around through a different maze of alleys. Both of their hoods had fallen. Her hair was a silver so pale it seemed white. Snow rarely touched the lands of Chalphy. When it did, it only stayed for a day at most. Her hair was just as ethereal, and the whimsical thought struck him that she, like snow, might disappear in front of his eyes. 

They eventually made their way back to the market place, breathing heavily. Arvis planted his hands on his knees, marveling over how he was still not making any noise. The woman leaned on her staff, smiling while she panted. 

“I’m so sorry. I thought that you were with that man.” she said.

Arvis waved the apology off.

“I’m Deirdre. Who ar-“

“My lo- Arvis! Sir Arvis!” Noish said, coming around the corner with Alec at his heels. “Where did yo go, sir? It’s a bit past when we were to reconvene.” 

Arvis gestured to Deirdre. 

“What? Sir…”

Alec burst out laughing. “Arvis you sly dog. Don’t tell me that you are capable of having a tryst while working.”

Deirdre blushed heavily. “Oh, no! no no, he helped me and, I, well… I wasn’t very grateful at first and I hit him with my staff.”

“You what?” Alec said, still chuckling with every breath.

“I hit him with my staff? and with a Silence…”

“Well that explains two things.”

Arvis waved to bring attention to himself, and made a motion to his mouth and throat. 

“Oh! oh yes, I’m sorry.” Deirdre tapped her staff on the ground. “Unseal.”

“Thank you,” Arvis said, rubbing at his neck. How odd. Though he had no means of attacking, he hadn’t felt embarrassed about his state until his knights had found them. “Miss Deirdre, you are welcome for earlier, but I’m afraid that I must be uncouth. You need to come with us. It is non-negotiable.”

There were noises of protests from both Noish and Alec. 

“She’s seen our faces, gentlemen, what else would you have me do?” Arvis pulled his hood back up over his head, and did the same for Deirdre’s, his hand brushing against her hair. It was very soft. The burst of self-indulgence surprised Arvis as much as the texture of Deirdre’s hair. 

“I… I understand.” Deirdre’s voice, hesitant but sure, cut through Noish’s second attempt at a protest. “I’ll come with you.”

******

When the lord of a castle went out with two retainers and came back with two retainers and a guest, it sent the few remaining servants into a flurry of activity. A room had to be prepared, food stores had to be re-checked, and gossip about the reason for the addition had to spread. 

Deirdre marveled on the expense that was being spent on her; a room all to herself, with a mattress that was more than rough cloth and old straw and a window that looked out over the grand expanse of Verdane’s forests. 

Arvis stood at the doorway. “Is the room to your liking? I know that it is short notice. My sister and the Lady Aideen will be able to find things more of a feminine touch should you need anything.”

“Is Lady Aideen your wife?” Deirdre tested the glass pane of the window, and bent down to see the vast and darkening blue sky. 

“What? I - No. She is not.”

“What about the woman in purple?”

“Lady Arya? Of course not. … Why do you ask?”

“You’ve given me such luxury, I thought for sure a man as thoughtful as you would already be married.” 

Arvis looked around the room. To him it was plain and bare. No tapestries to hang upon the walls, nothing to blunt the chill stone floor, and only a thin, solitary window to let in light from outside. This was luxury to her? How astounding. 

“How did you live before we brought you here?”

“I lived with my grandmother in a one room home, out in the Spirit Forest, west of Marpha. I was running away when you found me. I had the strongest feeling that I could not stay in one place for the rest of my life. Have you ever felt that? An urge, a knowledge, that there is something you must do, even if you couldn’t explain why?”

“I can’t say that I have.” The room now looked so different, and nothing had changed within it except Arvis’ perspective on it. To go from one living space to another, of course this tiny castle room would seem the height of luxury. 

“You need to listen to yourself more then. Really listen.” Deirdre smiled at him, turning around to face him fully.

Arvis coughed once into his hand. “Miss Deirdre, please be aware that you can go wherever you like within the castle. While we hold you captive, we also do not wish to think you a prisoner. However, should you wish to leave the castle you will need to be accompanied by someone.”

Her smile, once moon-bright, dimmed. “I see. I suppose I understand. But I have a request of you.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t lie to me. Even if you think the truth would be kinder.” Deirdre pointed at him, imperious as any queen but for the gentleness of her face. Arvis bowed as a lord would to his liege, and didn’t know how much he meant the sentiment.

“As you wish. Sleep well.”

Unfortunately for Arvis’ well wishes, Deirdre could not fall asleep. She tossed and turned on her new mattress and stared out her new window at the shadows of trees rustling in the wind. It was so odd, sleeping alone. She missed the unsteady noise of her grandmother’s breathing, a lullaby without notes or words that reminded her that everything was alright. It was the first night of her adventure, and she was already homesick. 

That would not do. 

Deirdre threw the blankets off and got up. Arvis had said that she was allowed to go where she wished inside the castle. And she could go anywhere she wanted outside, she just would need to take someone with her. That wasn’t much to keep her in place, though she supposed that the person needed to be with her to go outside would end up asking to head back to the castle. In the mean time, she could start from here and move her way out. 

She turned down some random halls, found a staircase and went to the floor below. as she walked down the new hall, Deirdre felt drawn to one door in particular. On opening it, she was greeted with floor to ceiling shelves covered with dust and several small piles of beat up books and scrolls. There was also a soft muttering coming from the other side of one of the shelves. 

“Sir Arvis?”

Arvis looked up at the call, struck silent. there was a candle flame size fire in his hand that cast a muted yellow glow against his face and the book he was reading.

“Do you need light?” Deirdre offered out her palm. Floating over it was a ball of light, brighter and clearer than Arvis’ little fire. 

“I… yes. You know, I haven’t encountered Light magic outside of the Church of Blaggi. I’m surprised that it is known here.”

“My family has always been able to cast light magic.” Deirdre took a seat on the floor next to Arvis, allowing her little gold to hang between them. “What are you doing awake?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“But I asked first. So?”

“This and that, this and that. Yourself?”

“This and that.” 

Arvis’ chuckle sounded disused. That was a shame. They sat together for a while, and Arvis showed her the book of Verdanian legends that he managed to find. Deirdre fell asleep on his shoulder, and woke the next morning back in her room with her cheek still warm.

******

Arvis was already gone when Deirdre went downstairs, leaving the women and children alone. She spent the next day and a half with them. It was astounding being able to talk to so many people all in the same day, and know that she would wake up the next day and speak to them all again. 

Ethlyn quickly arranged to have Deirdre being part of the rotation of watching Dew, the young heroic thief, so that Aideen could rest knowing that the rescuer she adopted was going to be okay. There wasn’t much to do while watching the boy sleep, so Deirdre talked at him while winding a summoned globe of light between her fingers. 

At night, when Deirdre couldn’t sleep, she made her way down to the healing room and would sit with Aideen. The second night, they were together when Dew woke up. Aideen thanked him in person, and explained what she could of where they had ended up. 

Arvis returned the next day. He sat with Dew for a long time. Deirdre believed that Arvis was giving the boy the same rules that she was given. Anywhere in the castle was fine, but no going out of the castle. There was enough inside the castle that Deirdre hadn’t felt it as a restriction. Yet. 

“Lady Arya with me.” Arvis said, before Arya could leave to turn in for the evening. Deridre followed. 

“What is it?”

“I have a need for you and your blade. We go out again in the morning.”

Arya didn’t reply for a long moment. “What about Shannan?”

“I’ve arranged protection. The young man that Aideen brought with her awoken, and insisted that he be allowed to fight. I’ve told him that under no circumstances will he be fighting. However, he is to protect Shannan in your stead when I have need of you. … I know that I did not consult you, but it is the best I can due under the circumstances.”

“He will be training with me and Shannan then, starting as soon as possible. He will need to learn how to fight properly.” They were coming back towards the door, so if there was any thing more said, Deirdre lost it as she moved from her hiding place. 

Once again, Deirdre met with Arvis in the library in the middle of the night. They spoke of magic and spell casting under a torch light. She accidentally destroyed a bookshelf, an empty one thank goodness, in trying to explain how she felt her magic move through her. 

“Is Dew like me?” She asked.

Arvis didn’t reply.

“You promised.”

“… So I did. Yes, in that he seems to be a native of Verdane. Yes, in that he isn’t allowed to go outside the castle yet. No, becuase I have no idea yet what to do with you.”

“Do you have to do something with me? Can’t I just stay?”

“Everyone here has a role, of some sort. We just need to find it.”

She did not fall asleep on his shoulder that night. 

Now the restriction on her movement felt like shackles rubbing her ankles raw. Deirdre watched Arvis take a different set of fighters out. Fewer than last time, where he had taken all the men. He had left behind Ethlyn’s husband, Aideen’s archer, and a young man with blue hair. 

Deirdre asked them what Arvis was doing, but none could say for certain. the one with blue hair, Lex, said that it was information collecting combined with causing a bit of conspicuous trouble. Not enough to harm anyone, but enough that they were noticed. 

It was hard to wait, but she could wait the few days that it took for Arvis and his band to return. Before she could go out to find him herself, though, Arvis came to her. 

He knocked on the door of her room.

“Miss Deirdre,good evening.”

“Good evening, Sir Arvis.” Deirdre made a small curtsey, even though she was not in a dress. 

“the last few nights we have been in the castle together… I mean to say, I will not be in the library later this evening.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Please, stay here tonight.”

He had left after his request. But after a week, Deirdre was not going to stay put.

She caught up with Arvis that night. She didn’t expect such a grand, city-bred man to go wandering in the forest this late. 

“Sir Arvis, what are you doing here?” she said, holding his arm.

“Just…” Arvis took her hand, intending to remove it from his arm and letting go, but holding on after, rubbing his thumb over her fingers. “Never mind why I’m out here. You need to go back. It’s not going to be safe. And I thought I said that you weren’t to go outside the castle unaccompanied.”

“You’re accompanying me, aren’t you?”

There was a very deliberate crack of a breaking tree branch. They turned, each summoning their favored magic at the ready. Flames curled in Arvis’ fingers and concentrated light hovered over Deirdre’s palm. The offender was Prince Jamke, eyes narrowing at how quickly they jumped to fighting positions. “I hope that you’re not planning my assassination, Sir Arvis. Makes it suspicious that you wanted to meet me in the dead of night away from anyone that could help me.”

“Of course not. This is…” Arvis put out his fire with a twist of his wrist. Deirdre did not put out her light. Instead she made the glow less glaring and allowing it to rise into the air as a floating lantern. Arvis looked over her a quick moment before composing his expression to something blank. “This is my fiancé. Granvalle tradition states that when you have full faith in the intentions of another lord, you bring with you a more vulnerable member of your household to the negotiations as a gesture of that good faith.”

Jamke looked between the two, and noted the difference in their clothing. Arvis was dressed in fine cloth that emanated wealth from the depth of the dye colors: bright blues that mirrored the shade of his hair laid against pristine white, with seams edged in a yellow-gold shade. Deirdre’s clothing was made of rough, undyed fabric and built for comfort while working or traversing a forest. 

“She’s dressed as a Verdanian peasant.” Jamke pointed out, an eyebrow rising.

“The engagement was very recent.”

Deirdre tried not to giggle at how flat Arvis sounded when he said that, hiding her face into his arm in false modesty. Recent, yes, the engagement happened right then the moment that Prince Jamke walked into the clearing. She and Arvis traded a glance, and his look of vague pain sent Deirdre into convulsions that she hid in his arm. 

Jamke was not amused, nor did he really seem to believe anything that Arvis had said. it did prove one thing, that whatever Deirdre’s relation to Arvis and her reason for being with them in this supposedly secret meeting it was not to make a double cross. 

“Your offer is a tempting one, Sir Arvis. I almost can’t believe that a Granvalle man would offer to stop a conquest,” he said , moving the business of the hour forward. 

“I do have my price, of course.” Arvis picked at his fingers, but didn’t look away from Jamke’s face. “Information. I know that Verdane has long been considered the home of naught but bad weather and brigands by my countrymen, but your brigands haven’t ever been as bold as they have been recently.”

“That’s becuase they’re not mere bandits. My father was convinced that Granvalle after attacking Issach was going to turn on Verdane. Likely as it was, there was no evidence… until you showed up. Before then, my father’s paranoia was being fed by his new advisor, Sandima. There’s something off about him, however, not that I have any evidence of that either.”

“I could help with that.”

Jamke barked a bitter laugh. “How? by taking over the country entirely? I don’t think so.”

“No, but I have other ways. Perhaps if you tell your father that you’ve failed to push back the invaders, we can all deal with this Sandaima here, together. I will still pull back all my people to Evans,” Arvis said. “You can be free to gather all the information you need to prove to your father that Sandaima has been using him, as you suspect.”

“I’ll expect an invitation to your wedding.”

“What?”

“If this all goes well, you’ll have to be named an ally. What better way to prove it than by inclusion in the happy occasion?”

It was admirable how Arvis was able to keepthe panic off his face. He took Deirdre’s hand in his own. “Of course. We’d be delighted Prince Jamke. Send word of when we should arrange the ambush.”

Jamke nodded and faded back into he forest without a sound. 

Taking in the whole evening, Deirdre’s mind was a whirl. Not becuase she did not understand what had just transpired, but becuase she could. Her grandmother had been more strict the last few years becuase she had said there was a rise in dark forces. Could this be what she had meant? 

Arvis gripped Deirdre’s hand tighter. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry.”

******

Arvis was not a good improviser.

Ethlyn knew this. He could bullshit with the best of them, but actual improvising was beyond his capabilities. He made plans, and plans within plans, and variations of plans should the first set of plans not work out, and another set of contingency plans under those. In all, it made his so-called ‘whirlwind romance’ with Deirdre as suspicious as it was heartwarming. Arvis did not do whirlwind, and he certainly did not do romance. 

“Tell me what happened,” Ethlyn said on entering Arvis’ quarters. She was expecting that Deirdre would be already sharing these rooms with him, but her sister-in-law-to-be still had rooms situated on the floor above.

“I have begun an engagement with a woman who previously lived in the Spirit Forest of Verdane.” Arvis didn’t look up from the papers on his desk. 

“Don’t pull that line with me, brother dearest. Tell me what happened.”

“You only call me that when you want something.”

“I want to know what really happened.”

Arvis started to write something, but the ink on the pen nib had already dried. “She followed me to where I was meeting Prince Jamke for the peace talks. I had to explain why she was there, and ‘I’m secretly planning your assassination’ was obviously not an option. Because I’m not planning that, for the record. Prince Jamke is more useful alive and he has a good head on his shoulders.”

“Is that all? I would have thought you’d come up with something better than ‘this is my fiancé’.” Ethlyn watch the way Arvis’ shoulders came up a fraction before he rolled them into forced relaxation. Oops. He really was embarrassed about this. “You like her, don’t you.”

“Yes, she is a competent spell caster and a marvel with a staff.”

“No, I mean… You like her.” Ethlyn put a bit of emphasis on the work ‘like’, enough that Arvis looked up at her.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“You like her like you liked Aida.” There was a long moment where Ethlyn could hear the doors and windows inside the maze of her brother’s mind slam shut. “Arvis, please, hear me out. I know that enough of my friends have tried to get married to you-”

“Considering that all your friends are magpies whose chattering leaves me longing for the sweet release of death, that isn’t a very good starting point.”

“Shut it. What I mean is, you know what the opposite of ‘like’ is for you. And you know how you feel when you do like someone. So where does Deirdre fall?”

There was a long moment of silence. Ethlyn started to fear that Arvis would bodily throw her out of his room. He’d never do it. Arvis hurt things, not people, when he was angry. But there was a flash where she felt like a possible future had her out in the hall on her rump. When he finally did answer, his words were chosen with care and his face turned soft with each one that was uttered. “No… it is nothing like with Aida. Deirdre is… Radiant. She never does what I expect, and I always want to see what she will do.”

Ethlyn smiled. It was rare to see Arvis like this. “I get to do the wedding planning.”

“What? Ethlyn, no!”

She skipped out of Arvis’ reach and ran out the door cackling. 

Arvis hung his head and muttered “She’s going to be the death of me,” as she turned the corner.


End file.
